Today I finished something!  That calls for a celebration.  And furthermore it was the highest priority thing on my todo list.  After celebrating for six minutes with a Diet Coke, it was on to the next thing.  But it did feel good.

The other day while in San Francisco I rented a car, and discovered I'd allowed my driver's license to expire (!)  So today I dutifully trudged down to my local DMV office prepared to spend hours waiting in a bureaucratic nightmare.  Guess what?  It wasn't bad... they have the line management well organized, the people were helpful and efficient, and I walked out with a temporarily license.  Yay, could have been much worse...

Huh, seems boys with unpopular names more likely to break law.  While "Ole" is unusual, I'm not sure it is unpopular.  Huh :)

Nassim Nicholas Taleb's (the Black Swan) rules for surviving in an unpredictable world.  I need to work on #6, "Learn to fail with pride - and do so fast and cleanly."  I fail without pride, it takes me a long time, and leaves a big mess :)

So with Groundhog Day fast approaching (Feb 2), Slate asks the important question: How do you know whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow?  (BTW, "Candlemas"?  who knew?)

Gadget lust: this clock for geeks.  Oh please oh please oh please, I want one!

So Google Search is still growing.  Wow.  A colleague pointed out something interesting about their dominance; because they have [much] higher search traffic than others, they have [much] more test data with which to improve their search algorithms.  In theory the feedback they get will enable them to hold their lead indefinitely.  We'll see!

From the "who ordered that" department: Better JPEG standard due in 2009.  In their infinite ignorance Microsoft have once again reinvented a wheel, developing their own enhancement to JPEG instead of drafting off the work already done on JPEG2000.  Sheesh.  Let's hope it dies a quick death.

How do you know if you live in the right town?  Well, if they have a soapbox derby, that's a good start :)  How excellent is that?  Mark your calendars and, er, start your engines...